Alpine man gets 25 to life for shaking, beating toddler to death

An Alpine man will spend 25 years to life in prison for shaking and beating his girlfriend’s toddler to death two years ago, an El Cajon judge ordered on Wednesday.

Brett Brown, 32, was sentenced to the maximum term after a jury convicted him in September of murder and assault on a child causing death.

Brown told Superior Court Judge John Thompson he was sorry for what he had done, and he has taken responsibility for his actions on Jan. 11, 2016.

That day, he was caring for 20-month-old Lucas Orlando and a sibling, the children of Renee Fournier, his girlfriend, as well as his own two children from a prior relationship.

Fournier was at work while Brown stayed with the children at their home on Arnold Way, Deputy District Attorney Chantal de Mauregne said.

Brown was on leave from the Navy as a corpsman at the time.

The prosecutor said during Brown’s trial that he was hung over and trying to do homework when Lucas became fussy, refusing to eat or take a nap. She said Brown became frustrated, put tape over Lucas’ mouth to silence him, then smashed his head on a hard surface.

He phoned Fournier about 1:45 p.m. to tell her Lucas was injured.

De Mauregne said Brown gave Fournier and investigators varying accounts of what happened: That the boy had rolled off a sofa, that he was jumping on the sofa and fell, hitting his head on the fireplace hearth, and that Brown slipped and fell on him.

Brown testified that he was holding the toddler and a plate of food when he slipped and fell, and that the boy’s head must have hit the ground.

The toddler was taken to a hospital with severe brain, eye and neck hemorrhages, deep skull fractures and a shattered leg. Lucas died two days later.

His leg had been broken for some unknown number of days, but he wasn’t taken to a doctor when that happened, the prosecutor said.

Brown was arrested a day after Lucas died.

Fournier also was arrested and charged with felony child endangerment. She pleaded guilty, testified against Brown, and had the felony reduced to a misdemeanor. In October, she was placed on probation for four years and ordered to take a child abuse prevention class.